It was one of the strangest compliments I’d ever received. Pastor Sapp pointed at me.   “Spencer’s an example of an average person living out their faith in prison.”   I never thought that being called average would be such a compliment, but in that moment, I understood. I was genuinely honored. I think it’s the perfect way to describe what it is we aim to do at HeartBound.   You see, HeartBound has developed a model for the spiritual and moral rehabilitation of the incarcera

Their eyes grew big like saucers.   “Mr. Spence, you want us to do what ?”   I told the boys that they had heard me correctly. 100 things. Not 10, not 50, but 100 .   Moans filled our classroom. Eyes rolled.   Torey sat in the back, smiling. He stood up and encouraged them in his thick Latino accent.   “When I was a juvie just like you Spence gave me the same assignment. I thought I couldn’t do it. But I did. And you can too.”   I thanked him. I thought back to those early da

Juan leapt in the air.   Rapidly descending from above him was a small, green, plastic ball.   He cranked his arm backwards, then whirled it forward.   The racket ignited with the ball.   The ball shot forward, cleared the net, then rocketed down. It grazed the concrete just inside the boundary line, then skidded out of bounds.   George had read Juan’s spike perfectly. He was in position and ready. He swung his paddle through the air, a clean forehand.   He whiffed.   I calle

Let me share with you how I know that we’re doing something right.   Roadblocks are getting thrown up left and right at the facilities we work in.   You see, Evil is trying to stop Good. But it won’t succeed.   I was tempted to list and explain every roadblock, a sort of “airing of grievances.” I wanted to complain and show you just how unfair we’ve been treated lately.   But I won’t. I’ll just tell you straight up - working inside prisons has not been easy lately.   Not that

There are some fancy formulas that nonprofits use to advertise just how good of a job they’re doing. I’ve researched them, weighed whether or not if it’s worth the time spent to calculate them, and decided, it’s largely not. You could attempt to place a fiscal value on the goods and services we provide and simply put, it wouldn’t be accurate, nor would it portray the true impact of our programs.   One such formula, “social value,” is a metric that puts a dollar value on how m

Have you ever asked someone to pray for you? I met with one of our Malachi Dads instructors, Dan Lane, recently. He had just completed a 12-week Malachi Dads course at Spalding County Correctional Institute.  I wanted to meet to get feedback and say thanks. Dan was beaming, “Spencer, you’ll never believe what happened during last night’s class.” I sat up straight in my chair. “The men asked me to teach them how to pray.”  For years, Dan’s been reading the same prayer every mo